Academy 11-19-08

We had a little bit of a small group considering the spectacular weather.

Beth leads Diane and Jane along Wyoming	Brigitte, Ron and Steve wait patiently for the rest of the group to finish
Kim and Diane finish up	Kim and Diane 2
The group enjoys a beverage afterwards at Starbucks	Lori regales me with tales of her exploits in San Antonio (or she's giving me grief about getting PT for my shoulder, it's hard to tell which)
Apparently, there's been some complaints about me never being in the pictures. So here you go.	Deana the FHM

FREE FOOD!

Don't forget, this coming Monday, November 24th, track is going to be at my house. We're doing EASY hill repeats (this will be fun, I have a plan) followed by homemade pizza, soup and salad at the house. The only thing you need to bring besides yourself is any alcoholic beverages you'd like to drink with dinner. I've got the rest covered.

And, you never know, there could be prizes!

Our house is at 14339 Camino del Rey NE (east of Tramway and Copper)

Call me at 321-6375 if you get lost or need help finding the house.

HERE'S A MAP AND DIRECTIONS:

Winter Warriors on Saturday 11/22/08

Here's the group that gathered at Tramway and Montgomery to run on Saturday morning 11/22/08

Madeleine and April are ready to run	Mike had a giant pile of stuff to give away
A group of happy runners on a GREAT morning for running (l to r) Lori, Cathy, Justin, Dana, Marc	Cathy Gamble sports the scarf accent to her running ensemble
One of the Winter Warriors shows off her WW shirt	Jennifer points something out to Ray
Dana dutifully stretches	Taos is done but looks like she could go for more
Taos with her running companions	We took over a significant part of Flying Star
The other side of the table	Karen sandwiched between two Mikes

Jennifer and Lori chat

Powered by Zoundry Raven

Winter Warriors from History

It is early in the winter of 1776. The trees are bare of leaves, standing starkly black against the leaden gray clouds of December in Summerseat, Pennsylvania, later to become known as Morrisville, named after Robert Morris, a financier of the American Revolution. Looking over the ice floes dotting the dark waters of the Delaware River, George Washington sees Trenton, New Jersey on the opposite shore where 1500 Hessian troops are garrisoned. George's army is in trouble. They had recently retreated from a defeat at New York and fully one third of the men are sick or wounded, unfit for battle.

George was looking for a victory to raise the dismally low morale of his troops and the rest of the Continental Army brought on by the disappointing fortunes of the Revolutionary War so far. Many of his men were looking forward to the end of their enlistments on December 31st, 1776 and some of the rest of his troops had already deserted.Thomas Paine had written the previous week in Common Sense the famous words, "These are times that try men's souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." and George wanted to reinforce that positive influence on the struggling young country with a decisive win over Great Britain and her allies.

Suddenly, he had an idea. He would cross the ice choked river and attack Trenton on Christmas Day. After all, he was expecting reinforcements so even with using some of his troops to guard the strategic river crossings north and south of his current position and needing to leave a force to protect the sick and wounded, he would still be able to land a numerically superior force on the other shore and attack the Hessians.

Plans were made and on Christmas Day, 1776 the 2600 man army was assembled on the west bank of the frigid and icy Delaware River at 3 PM when an exhausted rider rode up to Washington with an urgent message from home. You see, they didn't have Blackberries or cell phones in those days so urgent messages were transported by horses and riders who always arrived exhausted. The message said that Martha was having a hard time at Mount Vernon. It seems that her back was bothering her terribly and she wondered if George could leave the war, the army and his battle buddies for a few days and come to take care of her. I swear I am not making this up.

Consider what would have happened if George had decided at that moment to leave the troops and head back home to take care of Martha. The Continental Army may not have won a decisive victory over the Hessians the next day, capturing over 1000 of them while only losing five or six of their own force. The painting you see above would never have been made (or it would show Washington giving Martha a back-rub) and we'd be driving on the left side of the road on our way to afternoon tea and crumpets.

So remember the achievements of the Winter Warriors of history when you're thinking of wimping out on the track or Academy workouts this winter. Keep in mind that *your* excuse could become the subject of a Winter Warriors in History.

See you this week at Eldorado for track on Monday night, November 10th at 6 PM and at the Academy run on Wednesday night, November 12th, also at 6 PM. We meet at the Starbucks on Academy, just east of Wyoming for one or two laps of the Academy. The run starts promptly at 6:05.